Side Effects Include:
by Dead Rose Duo
Summary: ...Anxiousness, dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, upset stomach, headache, mood changes, marital complications, and family woes. Contains House/Wilson slash.
1. Prologue

_Triangle DEF points A, B, and C are taken on DE, DF, and EF respectively such that EC = AC and CF = BC. If angle D = 40 degrees then what does angle ACB equal (in degrees)?_

Gale stared long and hard at the question before her while chewing on the end of her pen. She had only been studying for fifteen minutes and her head had already begun to feel like someone had drilled a hole in the side of her skull and was trying to maneuver her brain out of it. Mathematical questions had never made much sense to her. The only reason she had gotten so far along in her studies where math was concerned was because her twin sister, Josephine, helped her out so much. Once she was on her own, however, the questions and formulas stopped making sense and she just got frustrated.

With a heavy, annoyed sigh, she dropped her pen down on her desk and pushed her Geometry textbook away. _Stupid math… When am I ever going to use this shit in real life?_ She internally asked herself. Of course, whenever you asked that of a math teacher, they always grinned and told you that you'd use it every day of your well-educated life, even if you really didn't. Nothing was more stupid than that to Gale.

She spared only a few more seconds of staring at the impossible formula before pushing out of her chair and leaving her room to knock on her sister's door, which was the next door down.

"What?" came a voice from inside. Gale perked up a little bit.

"Joooo, I'm so sick of this stupid homework. Can I come in?" the brown-haired girl whined, and leaned her forehead against her sister's door.

"Do I need to come over there and help you, Gale?"

"No…" Gale replied, and paused before going on to ask, "Can you take a break? I wanna play Smash Brothers."

A small sigh issued from behind the closed door. "I really have to get this paper done tonight. You should be doing your homework, too, and you know it."

Now it was Gale's turn to sigh. She stayed leaning against the door for a moment, without responding, before she heard Jo speak up, "All right. But after I'm done with this part, so give me like fifteen minutes, okay?"

Immediately assuaged, Gale grinned and stepped away from the door. "Okay! I'm going to see if Papa will play with me and then you can join in when you're done," she said cheerfully and turned to make her way down the hallway to the living room.

"Papa, do you wanna play Smash Brothers with me?" she called as she entered the living room, only to find it completely vacated. Confused, she turned towards the kitchen and saw that it was also empty.

"Papa?" she called out again, still without a response.

That was strange. She could have sworn that just her Daddy was gone to work and that Papa was staying home tonight. He didn't have a case, or at least he hadn't said anything about one. If he had a case, usually he could be found busily spinning his cane between his fingers in the living room, but he wasn't there. Besides, he hadn't said anything to her or Jo about leaving and she hadn't heard anyone leave anyway.

_Maybe he went to take a nap, _thought Gale. At that thought, she turned towards his room and poked her head into the doorway, peering around. The bathroom door was wide open and the light was on. She supposed he must have had to go to the bathroom and was in there now, stinking up the place.

The teenager grinned at the thought and called into the room, "Papa! Hurry up so you can play Smash Brothers with me!"

No answer. Cocking her head to the side, she took a few steps into the room and repeated herself. Again, there was no answer. A small flame of fear flickered to life somewhere in her stomach. Papa never turned down a game of Smash Brothers, or at least he never ignored his daughter's request of wanting to play.

Being the daughter of two doctors, Gale immediately thought of a thousand different serious medical reasons as to why her Papa wasn't answering her. Maybe his bum leg had given out on him and he had hit his head against the countertop and had been knocked unconscious. She immediately crossed the room in a few short strides at that thought and peered into the bathroom, not caring about the possibility of him being naked.

Her legs froze and her stomach clenched when she saw that her father was indeed lying on the floor, unconscious. She also saw a splash of recent, rancid-smelling, yellow vomit beside him, and beside the vomit, a prescription bottle, the cap missing as well as most of the pills; beside that was his cane. It didn't process in her brain what had happened; all she could focus on was that her father was on the floor, unconscious, and appeared to be dead. All she could do was stare.

And then she screamed. Loudly. She screamed her sister's name and screamed for help. Her legs felt weak but she held onto the doorframe for support, afraid of going over to her father's side, too afraid that he'd really be dead. It was a nightmare she would have never imagined and her thoughts began to shut down a result.

Jo came running into the room a moment later, her eyes wide.

"Gale! What's wrong? What happened?" she quizzed, stopping beside her sister and helping to steady her. Her eyes immediately darted to where Gale was staring, and saw their father sprawled on the floor.

The older twin let go of Gale and went to her father's side, kneeling beside him, touching his arm and feeling for a pulse. She looked up and her blue eyes met her sister's slightly darker blue eyes.

"Gale," Jo said as evenly as she could, "Go call an ambulance. Now!"

It took her a few seconds to get moving, but Gale nodded and ran to the nearest phone, picking it up and frantically dialing 9-1-1. When a woman picked up on the other end, Gale heard herself explain what had happened and that they needed help, but somehow she felt like it wasn't her voice. She was standing outside of herself, watching this happen to someone else. It was the most lucid dream she could ever remember having.

It still hadn't registered to her even when the ambulance arrived and when two men came rushing in to carry away her beloved Papa.

---

Jo was finishing up a sentence on her essay when her sister's terrified scream reached her ears. Jo sprinted towards the noise, grabbing a knife from the kitchen counter. Terrified screams scared Josephine like nothing else could. Her heart was racing. The few seconds it took Jo to reach her sister were made all the worse by the fact that Gale had stopped screaming.

She found Gale standing in their parents' bedroom at the entrance to the bathroom, a look of shock on her face. Jo shook her. "Gale! What's wrong? What happened?"

Then Jo saw him there on the floor. She didn't mean to let go of her sister so quickly, but the CPR class they had been forced to attend took control of Jo's actions now. She knelt down next to her father and felt for a pulse. It was there, but it was faint, and though he was breathing, the vomit and unconsciousness were obviously not good. She looked up at her catatonic twin.

"Gale, go call an ambulance." When the girl didn't move, Jo stood up. "Now!" she ordered, shaking her twin.

Gale seemed to snap out of it for the moment and Jo heard her shaky voice as it was talking to someone on the other line. Jo turned her father onto his side and collected the pills that had spilled onto the floor and put the lid back on the orange bottle. She collected her thoughts for a moment and dug out her cell phone from her pocket, dialing her dad's number. His cell phone went to voicemail. She hung up and dialed his office number. When answering service picked up, she put in an urgent page then hung up again.

There was only one last person she could call. Lisa. She dialed the number and the operator answered.

"Princeton Plainsboro, how may I direct your call?"

"Lisa Cuddy."

"Just one moment." The lady's voice was cheerful. Jo tried to remain calm.

"This is Dr. Cuddy," the woman's voice broke the ringing.

"Mom?"

"Jo? What's wrong?"

"It's Papa." She choked on her words a little. "He's got a pulse and he's breathing and I made Gale call the ambulance. He's sick and I don't know what's wrong. I.. I can't get a hold of Dad."

Cuddy's voice took on a more serious tone on the other end. "All right, have a cab bring you and your sister here and I'll pay them. I'll page your dad and let him know you're coming in. I'm going to go now so I can get those things done, okay?" Jo nodded as she spoke the affirmation.

Gale came into the bedroom, followed by two paramedics. Jo moved out of the way and spoke to her sister.

"He's alive. He should be okay," she reassured. Gale looked at her blankly. She obviously wasn't in the moment and wasn't processing anything. They watched as the paramedics took their father out of the room. "Come on, we'll take a cab."

"We don't have any money," Gale mumbled, her voice smaller than Jo could ever remember it being.

"It's fine. Let's just go. Mom knows we're coming."

Gale nodded and the two girls went out, somehow remembering through it all to lock the door behind them. When the cab ride was over, Thirteen was waiting for them at the door. She paid the cab driver and took them to the waiting room. James Wilson was talking to another doctor, but stopped when he saw the girls arrive. Gale claimed his hug first, crying into his shirt while Jo stood back and waited.

"Is he going to be okay?" said Wilson above Gale's muffled sobs.

"Yes, he is," the doctor said. "You girls probably saved his life by getting him in here so quickly. Good job." Neither of the girls felt like they had done a good job, though.

Cuddy came into the room then. She went over to Jo and pulled her into a hug. Jo let herself be hugged for a few seconds before pulling away and sitting by herself, lost in the terrified thoughts of losing her father and getting all the angrier for his stupidity.


	2. Chapter 1

**[ Disclaimer: I do not own any House, MD characters nor do I own any Queer As Folk characters [Gus, Melanie, etc.]. All I own are Gale and Jo and this story. This disclaimer, of course, applies to all chapters. :) ]**

James Wilson sat in his silver Audi A6, being thrown forward and back in the passenger seat, the seatbelt constricting just a little more each time and a headache definitely pressing at his temples.

"That's IT!" His voice finally took on a little authority.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" The voice belonged to none other than his younger twin daughter, Gale, her brunette hair straight and spilling over her shoulders, her face clear of make up, and her baggy jeans comfortably well-worn.

"I'm putting you and your sister through driving school! You'll give me a concussion! How did I end up with driving instructor duties anyhow?"

"You lost the bet with Papa," Gale said quietly and shrugged. Wilson remembered now… Damn House and always betting on everything. But the bet was over now. They had the money and so he'd look into the school first thing in the morning.

After a moment of silence, Gale turned to her father and asked, "Can Gus come over for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, sure, that's fine. Now pull over and I'll drive us home."

"We have to go pick up Jo from after school practice and Papa from the hospital first, remember?" Gale said as she slid into the passenger seat without getting out of the car.

Jo was waiting just outside of the school with her book bag slung over one shoulder and talking to Gus and his mother, Melanie Marcus. Today, Jo's hair was sprayed pink and done up in some strange way. Gale rolled her eyes. She'd almost forgotten today's hairstyle.

Melanie came over to the window when Wilson pulled up to the curb.

"Jo said you invited Gus over for dinner. I was just wanting to check," she said.

"Yeah, we did. But if you had other plans, I don't think we're doing anything special." Wilson stole a glance at his daughters and they waved their cell phones at him. Of course text messaging was how they communicated.

"Actually, J.R. is staying with her dad this week, so it'd be nice to have the house free for a couple hours," she added with a friendly smile.

"We'll be home soon, so we can just take him with us if you want," replied Wilson with a knowing smile of his own.

"Sounds good. Thanks so much, Jim." The skinny brunette left the window and the two sixteen-year-olds climbed into the back seat.

Gale turned around to look at the two of them and gave them a small smile. "Hey, Gus, Jo."

Gus smiled back. "Hey, Gales."

When they pulled up to the hospital, Jo looked at Gale before running out of the car and dashing towards the building. Gale took off after her sister, leaving Gus to wait in the car with Wilson.

Jo was the first to reach the administrator's office. The woman still wore flattering outfits.

"Heya, Mommy egg donor!" Jo called out.

"Jo, I really wish you wouldn't call me that," said Cuddy testily without looking up from her work.

The younger twin sped in seconds later and opened her mouth to speak, but Cuddy interjected, "Don't. Your sister already said it."

"I wasn't going to say it," Gale corrected sourly. Her expression didn't change when Cuddy cut her a look for her snippy tone. Gale and Jo exchanged a glance.

"What can I do for you girls?" Cuddy asked, folding her arms in front of her to give her full attention to her two daughters.

"Nothing," chimed Jo, speaking for both her and her sister, "We just wanted to annoy you. See ya!"

Jo turned to leave after that, but Gale spoke up. "I'm gonna stay. I had a couple of questions to ask," she said, not meeting her sister's gaze. Jo let a scowl linger on her face for a few seconds before bouncing out of the office, her mother calling after her, "Don't push all the buttons on the elevator again, you hear?"

Moments later, Jo was stepping into the hallway, leaving behind an elevator full of irate people. She flew into her father's office, causing the four doctors to look in her direction. House just stared at her, as if he didn't know who she was, and then turned back to his team.

"And it looks like I'm about to be dragged off, so I'll finish berating you three later," he said mockingly, using his cane to push himself up out of his seat. He hobbled over to the door leading into his office. Jo followed him.

"Hey, Pops," said Jo, "Hurry up and let's go."

The older man looked up from fiddling around with some papers in an open drawer on his desk and eyed his daughter. "Never tell an old crippled man to 'hurry up'," he retorted dryly, but not without a sense of humor. He went to sling his bag over his shoulder, to signal that he was ready, but Jo grabbed it from him and slung it onto her back instead, giving him a smile.

"For sakes unmentionable, I'm not _that_ old and crippled," he scoffed and limped after her.

"So," said House as they made their way towards the elevator, "Gus is over for dinner tonight."

"How did—?" Jo started to ask but was cut off when House waved his cell phone in her face.

"Text messaging isn't just for the young, or did you think your dad and I are too old and decrepit to use such newfangled technology?"

Jo smirked. "Well, his mom said it was okay."

"Which one?" House remarked.

"Melanie," Jo replied.

"Ah. The lawyer." As they were exiting the elevator, they could see Gale and Cuddy hugging. Gale saw them and ran over to them as they were leaving the building.

"You know," House went on, directing his words more so at his youngest daughter, "If you two get divorced, he'll end up getting everything in the annulment."

Jo looked amused while Gale just looked confused for a moment before realizing who he was talking about, and then quickly became annoyed.

"Gus isn't my _boyfriend_. We've been over this a thousand times," Gale said in exasperation.

"Well he's a boy and a friend, isn't he? More to the point, you know who I'm talking about." House smirked at his youngest daughter's scowl but had the sense to stop when Jo nudged him lightly.

When they walked out of the hospital, Gale and Jo climbed into the back seat on either side of Gus, who smiled at the appearance of his two best friends. House settled into the front passenger seat, glancing over at his lover as he sat behind the steering wheel. The ride home was filled with idle chat between the three teenagers while the two adults sat in the front seats, adding in comments here and there, the more sarcastic ones issuing from House.

"Can we have a snack before dinner?" Jo asked Wilson when they stepped in the door. "Please?"

"All right, find something, but not too much."

"Thanks, Daddy! I'm so hungry after practice, it's insane!"

"I know, I'm famished too," Gus said as they dropped their book bags onto the floor and ran into the kitchen. They came out with a bag of Doritos and sodas. The three kids sat down at the table and began snacking while Wilson and House went into the kitchen.

"Did she come upstairs today?" Wilson asked, putting his hand tenderly on House's face.

"No. She stayed and talked with mommy egg donor. I keep forgetting that she's half-Cuddy until she shuns me like she did again today."

"She'll come around. She's still upset."

House couldn't help but scoff with incredulity. He and Gale had been especially close, but ever since his overdose of Vicodin, things between them had changed drastically. "It's been three months," he sulked. "I'm clean now."

"I know," said Wilson softly. "I'm sorry… It's just going to take more time. Now wash up and help me with dinner."

"Help with dinner? What am I, your servant?" House limped off after kissing Wilson chastely. Wilson followed House to their bedroom, hanging up his coat and scarf and placing his shoes in the bottom of the closet before heading back into the kitchen to make dinner for the five of them.

"Denise wasn't so bad today. She's afraid Jo's gonna hit her," Gus said, going over the bitch who kept calling him a pole smoker.

"What? I've never hit anyone," Jo protested.

"You don't have to. You shoved Benny Colbs into his locker last year. You're a bad ass now." Gale laughed at her sister.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mock me too much. Justin Ashby thinks you're a dyke and are gonna call your biker dyke posse to beat him up."

"Nahhh, he's just got a crush on her and is afraid to ask her out 'cause everyone else is spreading the rumor that she hits guys in the balls," Gus said with a smirk on his face.

"What the hell? I never hit anyone either! And I only accidentally racked Marcus in gym 'cause he wasn't paying attention to the stupid baseball!" Gale's face turned sour and she crossed her arms.

"That was hilarious! He totally deserved it, too," Jo laughed. "I can't believe we forgot about this stuff."

"He wasn't wearing a cup that day either because it was mixed teams," Gus offered up the info, laughing.

"Serves him right! Thinking he's in less danger just 'cause girls are playing," Gale snorted. She unfolded her arms and went to check the internet for their science project.

The three were interrupted when House came in to the room, setting his cane down pointedly to get their attention. "Girls, you know the rules. No boys in the bedrooms."

"But the door was open, all of our clothes are on, and we're doing homework," Jo pointed out.

"Plus the computer is in here!" Gale spoke up.

"Come on, you know the rules. Besides, dinner is almost ready. Time to wash up and set the table."

"All right, Pops, we'll set the table," Jo sighed and put a bookmark in the open textbook in which she was looking.

Gale was barely concealing one of the scowls that had become commonplace on her face recently. "Come on, Gus. God forbid we actually have friends of the opposite gender," she muttered and stood to help Jo set the table. House gave her a look but didn't say anything—he just limped after the three and took his place at the dinner table. Wilson sat to House's right and Jo to his left. Gale sat beside Jo and Gus settled down next to her, glancing over at her once before smiling at Wilson.

"Dinner looks really good, Mr. Wilson," he said gratefully, bowing his head politely towards the older man.

Wilson smiled back. After House's ungratefulness, no matter how playful it was, Wilson always appreciated whatever compliments he could get. "Why thank you, Gus. I hope it tastes as good as it looks. But please, call me James."

"Sorry," Gus apologized, blushing slightly through his smile.

"Your cooking always tastes as good as it looks, Daddy," Jo encouraged, holding out her plate for Wilson to scoop some of tonight's salmon and risotto onto her plate. Gale nodded a silent agreement.

Wilson motioned for Gale to hold out her plate, too, so that he could also serve her, but she just held out her hand. She said, "I can do it myself, Dad," in response to which Wilson looked perturbed. A barely audible noise came from Jo as she grabbed her sister's plate and held it out so that her father could serve her. Gale glared mutinously at Jo for a split second before looking to Gus.

"Gus, would you also like help feeding yourself?" she asked coolly, although there was just an edge of ice to her tone, and held her hand out for his plate.

The expression on Gus' face was a mix of bewilderment and indecision. He had no idea what to say back to his moody friend, so he simply sat there and gave Wilson an apologetic look. Wilson pursed his lips but didn't say anything.

"Well," House finally spoke up after witnessing all of this, his tone deceptively cheery, "Gale, as long as you're going to insist on not being fed, perhaps you aren't as hungry as you thought you were five minutes ago."

Distant flames replaced the ice in Gale's eyes, but after a few short moments she decided she wasn't going to win, not with how her stomach had just growled loudly enough to contradict whatever she was going to say. She chewed on the inside of her cheek as Jo set her plate, now full, back down in front of her. Gus' plate was passed down and filled as well.

Dinner went on in silence for several minutes, while Gale lost her battle against hunger, Jo concentrated on chewing her food, and Gus cast anxious glances across the table and to the two girls sitting next to him. House placed a forkful of the risotto into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully before gazing over at Wilson.

"I bet I could duplicate this meal if you just gave me a list of the ingredients," he said teasingly.

Wilson stared straight ahead, pretending he didn't hear, as he often did whenever one of his lover's comments caught him off-guard, which happened quite often. The older blue-eyed man eyed him more closely, forking another bit of the risotto into his mouth.

"No, really," he went on, "I bet you… say, fifty bucks."

"House," Wilson replied shortly, "Did your mother even include the words 'thank you' in your weekly vocabulary?"

"Hm. Why, do you think I should take lessons from one of Gus' mommies?"

Wilson snorted. "If that would help you express gratitude, then yes."

"Interesting," House said, and preened inwardly as he let that word hang in the air and observed the various facial reactions from around the table. Wilson's, of course, was the most interesting. He just sat there, looking confused as to why that would be "interesting," but it was also obvious that he wasn't sure he should play into whatever little game House was getting at. House took that opportunity to shovel more food into his mouth as if to contradict his earlier statement about something interesting taking place.

Finally, Wilson gave in and sighed deeply. "Okay. Why is that interesting?"

But House's only response was to hold out a hand and say, "Come on. Fifty bucks. Shake on it."

The brown-eyed man pressed his lips together. "No."

"Fifty bucks plus I'll do the dishes for a week. If I win, I'll just be fifty bucks richer."

Wilson appeared to be chewing the deal over in his mouth along with his meal. He took his time chewing and swallowing before saying, "You'll really do the dishes for a week, huh? I've heard that one before."

"Sure," House readily retorted, too quickly for it to have not been a planned response, "but have you ever heard that one with this face?" He tried to look as pleadingly as he could. That was what won Wilson over in the end. It was what always won Wilson over in the end.

"I'm sure I'm going to regret this, but fine." The two men shook hands briefly, House attempting to pull Wilson's hand closer to his face so that he could give it a quick kiss, but Wilson pulled it away just in time, unsettled.

House's eyes lingered on Wilson's face for only a moment longer and then they examined the faces of the three teenagers at the table. He noticed how Gus curled his lips inward and tucked them between his teeth whenever he was trying to hold in an amused expression, particularly if he wasn't sure he was allowed to be amused or not. He noticed how Jo wasn't hiding her smile at all. He knew, after all, that his silliness and constant betting with Wilson over everything entertained her—many of his bets with Wilson these days were simply to make the girls smile.

He then noticed how rigidly Gale sat in her chair as she picked idly at her food, and how she side-glanced both himself and Gus from time to time. He more so noticed that she wasn't smiling and that her eyes seemed darker than usual. Her eyes, to him, gave away everything where her words failed. Once upon a time they were sparkling and friendly, but now they were just dark and seemed more like closed doors than windows. Never before had he thought that reading her would be such a project.

Quickly, he looked away and finished off the rest of the food that was on his plate, making mental notes of all of this. House sat back in his chair and stretched dramatically, several bones throughout his body cracking in response. A contented sigh escaped his lips as he felt his body loosen. He'd figure it all out later, but for now, his stomach was full and things seemed better than they did only an hour before.


	3. Chapter 2

**[ Author's Note: _----+ Be sure to check out the poll on my profile page to vote for who you think fathered Gale and Jo!!! +-----_ :) **I'm really excited to see what everyone thinks. n.n** ]**

The sounds of chairs scraping against the hardwood floor filled the room as the three kids stood up to leave. "Come on, Gus, let's go play Smash Brothers," said Gale, and then she turned to Jo. "You're playing with us, aren't you?"

The older twin nodded pleasantly and gave her sister a smile. Gale had already gotten over the incident at the dinner table. Together, the sisters and their friend headed towards Gale's room, where the Game Cube was set up.

"Ah ah," House called after them, causing them all to freeze in their steps. "In the living room."

"But, Papa, it's really annoying to unhook everything and drag it all out into the living room!" Gale protested, that frustrated look returning to her face where there had been a content expression only moments before.

"Would you say that it's more or less annoying than not being able to play it at all? I'm curious," House retorted authoritatively.

With an annoyed huff, Gale stormed off to her room where she retrieved the game system and all the controllers and wires that went with it and hauled it all into the living room, all but dropping it all in front of the television.

"I'm going to pick… Mr. Game And Watch," Gus said as soon as the game was all hooked up and turned on. "His noises are funny."

A soft smile returned to Gale's face, which House could see from his spot at the kitchen table with Wilson. "They are, especially when you knock him into the background. He's like, eh eh eh eh eh!" she said light-heartedly, imitating the sounds of the game. All three friends laughed at that. "I'm picking Pikachu, of course," she added as she selected her character. She always played as Pikachu.

Jo then spoke up, "Zelda's my bitch," in such a way that they all started laughing again.

"Everybody ready?" Gale was about to start the game when House limped over to them and said, "Hold up. I want to join."

With a smile, Gus handed over the fourth controller to the older man, who took it and began hovering his pointer over the available characters.

"Would it be too obvious if I picked Dr. Mario? With that little white coat of his, he looks just like someone I know," he said without a glance back at Wilson, who shook his head at the comment as he cleared off the table. Everybody knew, however, that the question was rhetorical and so nobody said anything.

Soon the four were there battling each other. Jo was the first to lose her fifteen lives and she didn't really care—she'd never been much good at video games, she just enjoyed playing them. Gale and Gus were pretty even, but Gus didn't seem to be doing much because Gale seemed to only be attacking Dr. Mario. The expression on her face was one of pure concentration and only occasionally did she cry out whenever a bomb hit her or an opponent set loose an unfriendly Pokémon. When the game was finished, Gus had managed first place and House's score was sitting in third place. To Jo, the look on Gale's face was decidedly smug.

"Cool, I got over 250% damage at least once," Jo mused, rifling through her stats.

Jo was the first to die in every game over the next hour, but she did manage to improve a little bit. Finally, Gus reluctantly stood up and asked to be taken home. Wilson put on his shoes and a jacket and together the two headed for the car after the girls said goodbye and exchanged hugs with their friend.

Gus sat in the passenger seat, quietly, looking out through his window at the passing scenery and buildings. With as tightly wound and expressive as the boy's two mothers were, it surprised Wilson every time he saw him just how quiet and shy he was. It seemed as though the boy had inherited all the good traits of his parents, while somehow all the bad was left out.

Wilson glanced over at him a few times but mostly kept his eyes on the road. He was a good-looking young lad, no doubt every bit as attractive as his father was. He had fine, dark brown hair accompanied by equally brown eyes and a strong, sturdy frame. His mother was quite beautiful as well. From her, he inherited his smooth, fair skin. This boy was lucky to have such intelligent and beautiful parents, and Wilson felt a surge of pride in knowing that his two little girls were also as lucky as their friend.

After a few minutes of driving on in silence, Wilson felt it appropriate to strike up a conversation with the kid. He said, as conversationally as he could, "So, how's school going for you three?"

"Huh?" Gus said. The question had caught him off guard and he blushed almost on command. "Oh, well, you know… It's fine. Nothing really special. Just.. classes and homework and stuff."

A smile spread across Wilson's face at Gus' inarticulate response. Gus was much more reserved than Wilson's daughters, but it was obvious why they both liked him so much. The boy was just plain adorable. Or at least that's what the fatherly thoughts in Wilson's mind told him.

"Do you like any classes in particular?" he asked next, and couldn't help but imagine what this conversation would be like if it were to be taking place between House and Gus instead. No. That would be a disaster, Wilson thought.

"Er… Not really. I mean, I guess drama class?" He paused, as if to think over his answer, before adding quickly, "It's a lot of fun. Acting, I mean. Not that I'm any good at it, but I try, and it's still a lot of fun. Except when other people suck worse than I do, not that I'm better than they are, but there seem to be a lot of these blonde girls who can never remember their lines and some of their boyfriends who only join just so they can make out on stage. Uh, yeah… I like it anyway, though."

Wilson couldn't help but grin at that. House would have loved that answer, and he knew without a doubt that Gale and Jo laughed along with Gus about their so-described not-so-sharp classmates.

"Gale comes in a lot after school to watch me practice. She's always saying stupid things to get me to mess up, or hiding nails and hammers from Jo while she's trying to build a set," Gus said, but without any real anger or negativity in his voice.

"Oh, really? I wonder who she learned _that_ from," Wilson observed with mixed amusement and exasperation.

Wilson was struck by a sudden thought. It suddenly made sense to him why House was always prodding people with simplistic questions—you could find out all sorts of things about other people. Here he was, sitting in his car taking his daughters' friend home and having a perfectly innocent conversation with him, and he just accidentally learned that his youngest daughter was still doing silly things and being what seemed more like her normal self. The suddenness of the revelation startled him.

He couldn't help but smile.

"So it sounds like the three of you have a lot of fun together."

Gus responded with a soft smile and a nod. "They're the best," was his simple reply.

"They are," agreed Wilson. He felt a wave of relief flood through him. This conversation was refreshing and had somehow reassured him, like a sense of normalcy had been returned to his shattered family. A warm feeling spread through his chest. "I'm glad you three are friends."

"Me too. School would really suck without them."

In all truth, Wilson wanted to pry more answers out of him, especially ones regarding the well-being of his two daughters or if Gale was talking to him about things at home or not. But there was simply no way he could think of getting these answers without directly asking the questions. Instead of asking more questions, though, Wilson just nodded to that and continued driving.

When they at last pulled up to Gus' cozy little home, the two of them exchanged friendly smiles. "Thanks for having me over tonight and for driving me home, Mr. Wilson."

"You're welcome, Gus. Have a good night."

"Good night."

With that, the teenager got out of the car, slinging his bag over one shoulder as he walked up to his door and let himself in. He waved once back at his friends' father before closing the door behind himself. Wilson returned the wave and then sat in his vehicle for a moment, feeling good about things, and then he reversed out of the driveway and rode home in a comfortable silence.

---

When Wilson walked in the door after dropping Gus off at home, Jo was in her and Gale's shared bathroom brushing her teeth.

"He's a good kid. His parents are a little high strung, but he's a good kid," Wilson said from the doorway, causing Jo to poke her head out of the bathroom and peer at him. "Anything you girls want to talk to us about?"

"Like what?" Jo asked as she finished with her teeth.

"Dating in high school is a very… Well, people can get hurt."

Jo gave her father a nonplussed look. "Dad, neither Gale or I are dating Gus."

"You say that now, but just be careful. I don't want to see you or your sister hurt." He came over and kissed her on the forehead.

"It's okay, Daddy. You really don't have to worry about Gus."

"It's not just Gus I worry about."

"I know, but everything is all right."

"You know, if you need to talk, I'm here."

"I talk to you all the time. You'll be the first to know if I start dating anyone."

"All right." Wilson gazed at his daughter and nodded. He had no reason not to trust her. "Get to bed soon. You have school in the morning."

"Night, Daddy." Josephine hugged him and then bounced past him and knocked on her parents' bedroom door. "Pops." He opened the door and stood there in a Van Halen t-shirt and black plaid pajama bottoms.

"I assume you're about to go to bed." He pulled her into a hug. "Sleep well and I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, Pops." Jo smiled, kissing him on the cheek and running back to her bedroom.

House managed to get a hug out of Gale before she closed her door to him. He looked a little sad but let her go, bidding her to sleep well even through the tension. House limped back to his bedroom and sunk down onto the edge of the bed. Wilson came in and sat next to him and placed an arm around the older man. House sighed into the hug before getting up and going about his nightly routine, finishing by crawling into bed next to the man he loved.

---

It was later that night that Jo woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. She slipped into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. She was mid-swallow when House's voice startled her. "You never could sleep through the night, even when you were a baby."

"Pa!" She choked on the water.

"What? It's not like you didn't know I'm usually awake in the middle of the night, too," he said matter-of-factly.

"Normally you're in here first," Jo pointed out.

"I was waiting in the shadows to surprise you." He opened a cabinet and pulled out a stack of bowls. "You know, Dad thinks you and Gale keep eating these," he said, producing a bag of cookies.

"He's half right," Jo said, taking a cookie.

"Just one?"

"I'm not really hungry. I just wanted some water, really."

"Then why did you take a cookie?"

"'Cause you wanted me to."

"What if I wanted you to jump off the roof?"

"I'd take another cookie" They both grinned. "Here, you eat it." Jo tried to hand the cookie back.

"After you got your cooties all over it?"

"All right fine, I'll eat the cookie!" Jo bit into it. Silence drifted between them as she munched on it.

House watched her momentarily before taking a small breath and saying, "Have you forgiven me for what happened?"

Jo choked a little bit again.

"Well, it wasn't like you tried to hurt yourself on purpose," she said. "I was really mad at you… but Dad helped me understand, and so did Lisa."

House nodded once to show that he understood. "Why do you think you were mad?"

"I just got mad at you for being so stupid," she said." I mean… you've done other stupid things before, but this time was different."

House didn't nod that time, just felt an inkling of guilt churning in his stomach. "What happened when you found me?" he asked suddenly.

Jo was unprepared for his point-blank question. The answer was what made her hesitate, and House could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't ready to talk about it yet. Still, he shifted his weight from his cane to good leg as he waited.

"Do we have to talk about this?" she said at last.

"No," House said quietly. "We don't have to." House munched on a cookie while Jo's gaze seemed glued to the counter. That silence once again filled the space between them as his last words hung in the air. He wanted her to talk to him about the night she and Gale had found him on his bathroom floor—so far, neither of them had really spoken up about it to anyone as far as he knew—but he also knew that this was one thing he couldn't pry or manipulate out of a person, especially not his own children.

"I love you, Papa," Jo said, all at once closing the subject.

"I love you too, Josephine." House hugged his eldest daughter.

"I'm going to go back to bed now. I have school in the morning."

"Pink hair?" He asked, pulling out one of her loose-hanging strands and examining it before letting it fall to the floor.

"I think I'll do purple tomorrow. Try to sleep, okay?"

"Who's the parent now?" House said with a small smirk.

"Daddy is still the parent." Jo stuck her tongue out at him. House promptly stuck his back out at her. The two shared a smile before Jo shuffled back off to her bedroom for the rest of the night, leaving House to stand alone under the dull illumination of the kitchen light.


	4. Chapter 3

**[** Author's Note: Don't forget to keep voting on the Who Fathered Gale and Jo poll on my profile! :D **]**

The bus ride to school was a slow one—big, flat flakes of snow were tumbling down from a dull gray sky, which slowed the progress of the bus and all surrounding traffic. Gale sat beside the window, staring out of it at the people in their cars as they drove past and feeling mightily lethargic. Her sister was sitting beside her listening to headphones, Gale was too groggy to say anything and didn't really want to talk anyway; her mind was still wrapped around the fragments of a dream she had had the night before.

When Gale stepped off the bus, a frigid gust of air slammed into her and nearly took her breath away. The two sisters hurried into the school and went their separate ways to their first period classes. Class had already started, but they didn't have to worry about being in trouble since they had a late bus pass. Gale quietly took her seat in her English class next to Gus, who appeared relieved that he didn't have to spend the whole class period alone.

Soon, after much discussion of various literary devices, first period was over, and Gale and Gus gathered their things to leave—Gale stuffed her belongings into her bag while Gus took great care in making sure none of his papers were smashed. One of their classmates knocked into Gus too roughly for it to have been on accident, causing Gus to flinch but otherwise not react.

"_Someone_ wants their ass kicked," Gale growled just loudly enough for the boy to hear. He turned and gave Gale a look that she interpreted as idiotic, although he was trying to appear intimidating. She just glared at him in return, bristling with anger.

"Just ignore it," Gus said with a sigh. It was obvious that he was tired of being picked on because he had lesbian parents. Gale understood, of course—she and Jo had gay parents, after all, but she supposed that somehow, a boy being raised by two women made him more of a target for bullying than a girl being raised by two men.

Gale answered with a noncommittal snort and Gus knew she wasn't going to be making any promises. She was known for being entirely unable to ignore bullies, which probably didn't help in getting them to leave her and Jo and Gus alone about their parents.

In order to change the subject, Gus slung his bag over his shoulder and said as they walked out, "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"It's… really stupid." Gale noticed that her friend's cheeks had grown considerably pink.

"You tell me a lot of stupid things, though, so I don't see how this'll be any different," Gale joked and smirked, eliciting a small smile from Gus.

After a short pause, he side-glanced her. "My parents think that you and I are… you know," he said timidly, gesturing with a hand between them, as if that would explain better than his words would.

Now it was Gale's turn to blush. She tried to play it off by scoffing and saying casually, "Think we're what, dating or screwing around?"

"Dating," he said, his blush deepening. "Or maybe both." Before Gale had a chance to respond, he rushed along. "But we aren't, obviously. I tried to tell them that, but then they were all like, 'Well how come you and her are hanging around each other more often then?' and I said that it's because you're my best friend. They didn't get it. And then they said that I should practice safe sex and all this crap." He pushed a sigh out from his lungs and let his arms hang by his side.

Gale wasn't looking at her friend at all, and for once she was grateful that not everyone was as keen as her Papa was when it came to noticing things.

"Wow. Don't take this the wrong way, but your moms are both freaking insane," she said hotly.

"They keep telling me that I can come to them if I need to talk about sex and stuff like that. I think they're more obsessed with it than I am, and I'm a guy, right?"

"Right."

"It's because of my dad." He said it so quietly that Gale barely heard him. When she realized what he'd said, the blush drained from her face and left her with only a look of concern.

"What's because of your dad?"

"That my moms think that I'm having a lot of sex."

"What? How is that your dad's fault?"

"Are you kidding? You know how my dad is. They automatically assume that because he and I talk and that we see each other, he's condoning sex at my age or something."

"Oh please, Gus, if your dad was condoning any sex for you, it'd be how to get a blowjob from a hot guy and you know it."

Gale was happy to see that her logic had made her friend smile, albeit he was still blushing.

"Yeah, exactly! So why are they assuming things about me? Why are they assuming that I'm like my dad was?"

"Because you're a teenager. All parents think their kids are having a lot of sex. Er… right?" Gale cast a look up at Gus' face to see if he agreed or not. His expression was unreadable.

"I guess so." There was a pause between the two friends, and both listened to the sounds of bustling students while they waited for the other to continue. Gale was the first to break.

"Oh god. You know what this means? My parents probably think the same thing. Do you think that's why they're always in my hair about everything these days?"

"Maybe." Gus shrugged. "Do… Never mind. We'll talk about it later, okay? I guess here in the hallway isn't the best place to talk about this kinda stuff."

"Guess not. I gotta get to my next class anyway, the bell is about to ring. I'll see you at lunch, okay, buddy?"

"Yeah, all right. See ya then."

---

House looked bored. His team was sitting around the office not doing a single thing. They had successfully solved their latest case that morning and House had finished his two hours of clinic duty, making the last few minutes before lunch very uninteresting. He was throwing his ball against the wall in his office and catching it, calling in a member from his team to pick it up for him every time he dropped it. He'd had Taub get the last one and he thought he would get Chase to pick up the next one when Cuddy strode in and began to open her mouth.

"Shh!" House said at once.

"Why?"

"Because I'm thinking."

"Okay, I'll bite. What are you thinking about?"

"Ways to get out of whatever it is you want me to do."

"How do you know I want you to do something?"

"You're technically my boss so you usually want me to do something."

"I am your boss and you aren't doing anything to earn the pay you're getting and neither are the four doctors in there."

"So take Chase down to surgery, give one or two to the ER, and the leftovers to the clinic."

"Then what will you be doing?"

"Eating lunch."

"For the rest of the day?"

"No. That would be silly. Just for a couple hours then I'll come back here and play my guitar and think of more ways to avoid you."

"I have a case for you."

"I'm not interested."

"You don't even know what it is."

"But I do know I'm not interested."

Cuddy cut him a look and dropped the file on his desk, and turned to leave without another word. As she reached for the handle to open the door, House said, "I'm not taking this case! I have lunch!"

"Then get someone else to start on it until you're done," Cuddy called as the door was swinging closed behind her.

House opened the file and began reading. Thirteen came in followed by Chase. "Is that a new case?" the female asked.

"Could be," House said without looking up. The hospital phone rang on his desk and he picked it up without removing his eyes from the folder.

"Hello. Nothing I can't get away from. Okay." House hung up the phone and looked at his subordinates. "Nothing interesting to see here. I'm going to lunch." He closed the patient file and handed it off to Thirteen, got up, and headed out his office door.

"Is there anything you wanted us to do?" Thirteen had followed him.

"Read the file and talk to Foreman."

"You're back in charge now."

"I just told you what to do! If you have a problem talking to Foreman, then sleep with him again. At least then you'll have spoken to each other. Now, I'm going to eat lunch and you're going to read the file."

"I don't have a problem with Foreman."

"Good. Now go do your job." The elevator opened and House stepped on, leaving Thirteen behind.

---

Josephine was in the library with her friend Sasha when Gale and Gus came parading in in search of her. She wasn't immediately aware that they were there; instead, she and Sasha were both too busy reading to notice when Gale and Gus came up to their table. Gale snatched Jo's book away from her and flipped through it quickly.

"No pictures?" she said with a mock frown.

Jo grinned and she held her hand out for her book. Gale shook her head and held the book away further from her sister. "It's time for lunch, Jo."

"Give me back the book." Jo met her sister's gaze.

"You coming to lunch?"

"Give me the book, Gale." Her voice was serious, but her eyes smiled.

"You didn't answer my question."

"It's not my lunch time! Give me the book." Jo began to look irritated at this point. Gus noticed this and shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, but said nothing to interfere. He was, after all, used to this sort of interaction between the two sisters.

"You know the librarian doesn't care what you do. You don't have a class right now anyway, so come onnnnnn," Gale whined, sticking out her lower lip.

"I want my book!" Jo snapped, now thoroughly annoyed. Finally, Jo's friend Sasha reached out while Gale wasn't paying attention and snatched the book back, returning it to her friend. Gale looked immediately astonished before her blue eyes darkened a few shades.

"Here you go, Josie," she said calmly, offering up a pleasant smile that Gale interpreted as entirely fake. "Now come on. Let's go to lunch."

"All right, fine," said Jo, putting a bookmark in her book and standing up along with her friend.

An obvious tension crackled in the air between the three girls, a tension which Gus purposefully avoided by standing somewhat behind Gale. Sasha and Gale eyed each other somewhat challengingly, but neither of them made a move to further provoke the other. Gus found himself holding his breath through it all, until Jo decided to lead the way out of the library.

The four teenagers eventually made their way into the cafeteria where they selected their meals for the day. Jo and Sasha were chatting idly about the book series they were reading together while Gale and Gus hung back, half-way listening. Although Jo usually ate lunch with her sister, sometimes she just wanted to sit in the library and read instead. She wished Gale would respect her wishes, but knew it wasn't going to happen any time soon. She supposed that's partially where Sasha came in and felt like such a breath of fresh air.

While the four were on their way to a table to sit down and eat, someone knocked into Jo's tray, causing the contents to spill all over the floor and nearly all over the front of her clothes. Her shoes took some damage, but miraculously not much else was harmed by the toppled food. Barely suppressed laughter erupted throughout the area, causing Jo to glare at no one in particular before stooping to pick up what was left of her lunch. Gus looked embarrassed and moved to help her along with Sasha while Gale stood up straight and concentrated as hard as she could on burning a hole through the back of the skull of the boy who had knocked over her sister's tray.

"Must be nice to have balls the size of raisins," she sneered as the boy walked away. He only spared her the kind of look one gives a single-celled organism. "I don't suppose you'd ever have to worry about having them kicked on _accident _because no one would be lucky enough to find them," she finished. She snorted loudly when the boy offered a middle finger in response.

"Just stop it, Gale," Jo said in annoyance. "You're only provoking them when you respond, I hope you know."

"Whatevs," Gale retorted and took her seat at the table. Gus sat beside her and Sasha and Jo sat across from her.

Practically none of Jo's food had survived the fall. When Gale held out a few of her chicken nuggets to make up for what Jo had lost, Jo just shook her head and said, "I'm fine with what I've got, thanks."

For a second, Gale looked offended… but then she shrugged and went on eating, every now and then casting annoyed glances up at Sasha. Although Jo noticed this, she paid no heed to it. Her sister needed to get over the fact that she had other friends aside from her and Gus. Sometimes Jo wished that her friend and her sister got along better, but she also knew there was nothing she could do about the fact that her sister was just about the most closed-minded person she knew.

Jo tried her best to focus on what she was eating, however little of it was left, but she couldn't help but feel a sting somewhere in her chest. She could handle anything her sister had to throw at her, but she really wished the bullying would stop. She'd be damned to let anyone know that, though. She knew she had to stay strong. She always had to stay strong. Sometimes she felt like that was all she had to hold onto anymore.

---

When House hobbled his way into the hospital's cafeteria that afternoon, his eyes immediately scanned the area for the familiar carefully combed thick brown hair belonging to his lover. It usually came accompanied with a neatly pressed collared shirt and pair of slacks, which clashed marvelously with House's own old jeans and t-shirt. It could have been the same shirt he'd worn to bed last night for all he remembered—hell, he'd just picked something up off the floor and thrown it on and that was just about all he'd done to "get ready" for work. It suited him just fine, he figured.

Upon spotting Wilson, House marched over—as best as he could, at least—and plopped haphazardly down in the seat across from him. He hadn't needed to grab his own tray, of course, or food, for that matter. Stealing food of off Wilson's tray was a long-established tradition. Both men had long learned to accept it and so Wilson didn't even flinch or press his lips into a thin line when House reached across and casually plucked the opened potato chip bag from his tray and proceeded to crunch on them loudly.

"So," Wilson began conversationally, "I heard you have a new case."

"Why is it," House said between mouthfuls of chips, "that the only time anyone here ever finds out anything before me is when it has something to do _with_ me?"

"Because your reputation proceeds you by at least half an hour," Wilson answered simply.

House gave that a moment of thought before shrugging and dismissing it. He then shoved another chip into his mouth and crunched away while carefully examining Wilson's expression and posture. The other man had something on his mind, as made apparent by how he had closed off House's question immediately and his effort to avoid eye contact.

Without giving it a second thought, House said, quite bluntly, "What is it you're debating about telling me?"

Wilson's brown eyes met the blue ones belonging to House in surprise. Had he really been that transparent? He should have known to be more covert around the great omnipotent one himself, but despite how he had grown to expect House's keen observation skills, he still found himself letting his guard down from time to time.

"Tucker invited me to go hunting tomorrow," he said, holding in a sigh. A small light flickered to life in house's eyes. Wilson braced himself.

"Tucker? That idiot doesn't even know your name," House scoffed.

Wilson rolled his eyes and sighed. "Jim is a form of James and you know it."

"That's not your name, though."

"You do realize that Melanie also calls me Jim…"

"But she's a lesbian."

"What?" Wilson blinked his eyes rapidly in disbelief, not at Melanie being a lesbian (because he already knew this, of course), but at House's insinuation that it made any difference in the first place.

"So, if Thirteen started calling you Greg…"

"I'd fire her, and at any rate, Greg actually is a shortened version of Gregory, so your comparison is faulty. Now," House went on without missing a beat, "I suppose the ol' Tuck-a-roo still feels the need to thank you for saving his life five years ago by firing deadly projectiles at innocent woodland animals."

"Yeah," said Wilson defensively. "Why? Jealous?" He raised an eyebrow at his crippled friend and lover.

"Jealous? Me? Never." House hadn't even tried to sound convincing, and, unsurprisingly, Wilson did not feel convinced.

"…Are you?"

"If I said I was?"

"I'd tell you to keep your pants on," Wilson said, realizing a second too late what he'd said. There was no mistaking that shark-like grin that spread rapidly across House's features.

"At least until later, right?" House said teasingly, adding in a suggestive wink for emphasis.

All Wilson could do in return is smile slightly and shake his head. Despite how infuriating and childish House could be at times, Wilson still couldn't help but occasionally be amused by his blunt and unexpected sense of humor… at least when it wasn't in regards to a serious or sensitive situation. It was moments like these when Wilson realized just how well House knew him—he knew how to push his buttons, but he also knew how to humor him just enough to get him to let go of his annoyance. Wilson felt a balloon of affection swell in his heart for the older man sitting across from him.

"It's just a friendly gesture. Just let the man show his thanks, despite how questionable you believe his methods to be, all right?"

House's only response was a small nod—although Wilson could see the disagreement in his eyes—whereupon he finished off Wilson's bag of chips by upending the bag above his face and dumping the remaining crumbs directly into his mouth. He then deposited the empty bag back onto Wilson's tray and moved to take the other half of Wilson's sandwich. Wilson let him do it without even trying to stop him. He had learned long ago that there was no use in ever trying to stop House.


End file.
